I Became a Mythical Hunter After Killing the Golden Goblin - Chapter 230
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 230. The Fall of Olympus (4)
He shot to his feet!
On the 999th Floor of the Bottomless Pit, Zeus rose abruptly from his seat, his face contorted with rage as he cast his gaze beyond the Bottomless Pit.
【How dare you! Who!】
All ten threads connecting him to Gaia through her karmic essence and dust had been severed.
This meant one thing: the supreme move he and Gaia had devised—their finest strategy—had been obliterated.
【Who dares obstruct the grand proceedings of Olympus!】
Through the threads, he could sense life and death, along with crude emotions, but nothing beyond that. So Zeus merely raged, destroying the 999th Floor again and again.
As he vented his fury, finally a being arrived to provide him answers.
【Gaia! What is the meaning of this! Who! How dare—!】
To Zeus’s reproachful words, Gaia responded with irritation, spitting out the culprit’s name as if accusing him in turn.
【Heracles. The one you fear. The one you dread. The one you cast into Tartarus. Your own son has returned to the world. To kill you.】
Zeus’s body went rigid. His eyes trembled.
Heracles. How could he ever forget that accursed name?
To forge that existence, he had consumed a fragment of his own essence and the greatest seed, and he had taken hostage the woman chosen as the vessel to nurture that seed—to make him a weapon of war.
In the end, he had achieved victory in the war against the Giants as desired. But the truth was destined to be revealed. And so Olympus and Zeus became his inevitable enemies.
That is why he had poured all his forces into imprisoning him in Tartarus. Or rather, to protect that worthless human called his mother, Heracles had suppressed his rage and entered Tartarus of his own will.
Zeus and the Twelve Divine Beings had feared him—such a formidable monster.
Born as an instrument of war, conflict perpetually surrounded him, and blood and death ran rampant. Using this as pretext, they had erased all records of his existence.
All that remained was a single name: Zeus’s son, the hero Heracles.
Thus, the gods born in this age did not fear Heracles, nor were they awed by him. They merely regarded him as one among the higher-tier Divine Beings.
Confined in Tartarus, he was nothing more than a legend of a bygone era, never to be seen again.
Yet that monster had returned to the world. A monster who transcended even the might of the Chief Gods and the Three Kings.
【How…how is it possible to escape Tartarus? That’s impossible.】
Zeus’s body began to tremble. Heracles was his son, but also his most formidable enemy. One of the few beings capable of claiming his life.
No—an irregular that even he, a Chief God, could not possibly contend with.
Among the handful of monsters in this Abyss who wielded extraordinary power and commanded vast authority, Heracles was one of the very few who stood above Zeus.
【Tsk. You don’t even know your own son. Tartarus was never a prison for Heracles. No—he grew stronger within it. That place is a hell where darkness and death reign, but it is also the sanctuary of Nyx, the mistress of night.】
Gaia’s voice trembled slightly when she mentioned Nyx. It conveyed that Nyx was a being far beyond Gaia herself.
【For Heracles, beloved of Nyx, escaping that place is no difficult feat. Nay, even without Nyx’s aid, he is among the rare few with the strength to break free from it.】
At Gaia’s words, Zeus’s eyes turned bloodshot, and he ground his teeth as he projected someone before his eyes.
【A mere demigod dares attempt to tear out the throat of his father and master! All because one insignificant human perished!】
Gaia gazed down at Zeus, who vented his fear through rage, with contempt, then turned her gaze away.
Among the Divine Beings remaining in Olympus, they displayed the most formidable power and were called candidates for the next Twelve Divine Beings.
They had admirably completed their journey to earn the title of hero in place of the great Heracles, and some even carried the blood of the Chief Gods themselves. Yet they were slaughtered without mercy.
The one-sided battle, too overwhelming to even be called a contest, ended in an instant.
【Such fools.】
They did not even comprehend the nature of the being before them—merely blinded by greed and honor. Half-formed creatures raised in comfort, who had always relied on power and prestige to overcome every obstacle.
Now they had encountered the real thing….
【Heracles is a monster who possesses power ranking among the highest even in the 2nd Dimension.】
Even if Gaia herself manifested in her true form, defeat would be inevitable against such an existence. It was only natural that she would perish after recklessly challenging someone of that caliber.
Gaia gazed at that place for a long while, realizing that Heracles was heading toward the Bottomless Pit, and soon made her decision.
【The cost in causality is steep, but this is finished.】
Most of the vast causality she possessed had been obtained freely without any justification in the first place. Of course, during her second interference, she had also exhausted the causality she had accumulated over eons.
【Rather than perishing alongside those fools, retreating now and preparing for battle would give me a higher chance of survival.】
She had long since granted dominion over the Bottomless Pit to Zeus. There was nothing left for her to interfere with.
The battle over dominion, which she had considered her final desperate gambit and perfect strategy, had seen ten Divine Beings fall to Heracles, leaving her with nothing but to await defeat.
Gaia decided to withdraw from this battle. It was clear that retreating now would be more beneficial in the future.
Whether begging for her life or standing to fight.
【I cannot believe these idiots are my descendants.】
Gaia cast one last look down at Zeus, trembling in terror, before fleeing into the 2nd Dimension.
Thus, Zeus alone remained, muttering only that he could not die, waiting helplessly for death to approach.
The battle between Olympus and Shin Ju-ha ended in utter anticlimax.
***
The 500th Floor Layer—the domain of Hephaestus, the master craftsman and Divine Smith of Olympus.
Infuriatingly, it was a floor where force could not be used. Naturally, this was possible because I had reached into the Labyrinth’s laws through interference.
The saving grace was that I could wield the degraded powers of Creation and Mimicry that had been completely absorbed into me. No matter how formidable the Divine Smiths were, they could never surpass the power of The Creator and Solomon.
The problem was that it took an agonizingly long time. I had to achieve victory against them, and furthermore, I had to find every hidden piece on this floor, which only amplified my anxiety.
The urge to break the true seal and obliterate everything surged to the very top of my head.
And then, a message from Akasha arrived, suppressing that urge and resolving all my remaining concerns in one stroke.
〚The problem has been resolved. All ten Divine Beings of Olympus who were heading toward the Bottomless Pit have been killed by Heracles.〛
“Heracles?”
〚Yes. Heracles has emerged from Tartarus to meet you, to take revenge on Olympus, to twist the fate imposed upon him, and is now heading to the Bottomless Pit.〛
The worry and anxiety etched upon my face melted away like snow beneath the scorching sun, and a smile bloomed.
“Then there’s no need to rush, is there?”
〚Correct. Furthermore, Gaia has fled from this war. With no remaining moves available, she appears to have given up.〛
I furrowed my brow. Olympus was one thing, but the real culprit was Gaia. As a Concept Divine Seat, I couldn’t dare challenge her, but now the situation had changed.
“That bastard comes after Olympus.”
〚Strictly speaking, Gaia opposed you due to causality. She may believe she attacked you of her own volition, but that is not the case.〛
“I suppose….”
What I suffered was somewhat… no, quite irritating. But strictly speaking, Gaia’s cooperation with Olympus was a backlash from me thoughtlessly drawing the power of the 2nd Dimension into the 1st Dimension.
It was as if the world itself had summoned an adversary to punish me for violating its laws.
“Tch. Still, I can’t forgive her.”
I’m suffering greatly because of Gaia right now, so I can’t just let her slide. After all, wasn’t it her own will that directed causality toward me?
〚…It’s somewhat different, but looking at the whole picture, you’re correct. Though it was based on greed for power rather than hostility.〛
“Regardless. In the end, she attacked me because she wanted something.”
For now, I’ll set Gaia aside and focus on what I can do.
With no more urgency, I began to move with leisure.
〚A wise decision. Ecdysis is a magnificent phenomenon. It must be achieved in the most complete state possible.〛
Moreover, if it’s Heracles, he would have obtained information from the Divine Beings that Zeus and Gaia had summoned.
“It should raise my dominion rate at least a little, right?”
〚Since you’re aware of it, that should be the case. After all, what Heracles desires is nothing but the destruction of Olympus and tearing Zeus apart with his own hands.〛
I can cooperate with that to any extent. After all, what I need is to prey upon Zeus’s power, not to sever his neck with my own blade.
I just need to secure enough contribution to be able to prey upon him adequately.
If he harbors enough vengeance to kill his own father Zeus, I can only imagine the magnitude of his hatred.
“Then shall we do what we can until Heracles joins us?”
Thus, the ascent of the Bottomless Pit resumed. Unlike before, it was an extraordinarily leisurely and comfortable conquest.
Their plans had already completely fallen apart, and they remained oblivious to the fact that Gaia, who had aided them, had abandoned them. I simply trampled and preyed upon these foolish wretches one by one, mocking my composure and boasting of their own victory as I advanced.
Toward the end of this ordeal. Toward the highest reaches of this Bottomless Pit.
As I approached the latter half of Floor 500, my dominion rate rose for the first time. The reason was naturally thanks to Heracles in the lower layers.
I didn’t know exactly what was happening in the lower floors, but it was certain that he was aiding me, so I harbored no concerns.
No—according to Akasha’s words, Heracles possessed transcendent power such that I would need to unseal him just to barely match him, so worry was a luxury.
No matter how much his power was sealed, its fundamental nature could never disappear.
And so we advanced. And thus Olympus came to stand at the precipice of its ruin.
And approximately half a year more had passed.
【At last we meet! Successor to this great hero, Heracles!】
Heracles and I were able to meet in the resting space of the 900th Floor, the final layer.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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